Method of making baskets



Nov. 6, 1951 G. c. F. BRANDES METHOD OF MAKING BASKETS Original FiledDec.

Patented Nov. 6, 1951 METHOD OF MAKING BASKETS Guenther C. F. Brandes,Dundee, Ill.

Original application December 28, 1946, Serial No.

718,924. Divided and this application November 3, 1948, Serial No.58,031

8 Claims.

This invention relates to a stiff paper basket, and method for makingthe same. This application is a division of copending application,Serial No. 718,924, filed December 28, 1946, which matured into PatentNo. 2,536,590 on January 2, 1951.

For some years paper mills have offered a sheet material made of wovenpaper that resembles wicker or wickerwork. In this material, heavy papercords constitute the warp, see numeral Ill of Fig. of the drawings,while strips of heavy paper I2 are woven through the cords andconstitute the woof. The material as delivered by the paper mills issold in sheets or in rolls and is comparatively weak or flexible andfrays readily. Heretofore, manufacturers of containers, particularlybaskets, clothes hampers and the like, have stitched this material overa selected three-dimensional type frame and then dipped the entirecontainer in a sizing which impregnates the paper and shrinks it. Whendry, the paper is very stiff and takes a coat of paint. The result is awickerwork-appearing structure having a strength comparable to that ofreal wicker. The paper manufacturers offer the sheet material in variousdesigns.

The object of this invention is to build a frameless paper wickerbasket. of this invention include forming the body of the basket on amandrel, adding stiffening end hoops and assembling the parts by meansof stitching or stapling; utilizing a paper border in assembling thebasket into final structural form; and then dipping in the sizing so asto contract the paper wicker around the stiff end hoops.

The disclosure illustrates the making of .a' shallow basket which may beused as a sewing basket. Referring to the drawings:

Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 illustrate the steps employed in making applicantscontainer;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view through a finished container; and,

Fig. 6 is a view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Continuing to refer to the drawings, applicant cuts from a roll of paperwicker a rectangular section I4 and closes the short ends by foldingover a piece of ordinary adhesive strip paper, as I6 and I8, see Fig. 6.Returning to Fig. 1,

the section I4 is then wrapped around a man- The features point 28, Fig.1, stapled to the midpoint of the height of the basket by a staple suchas 30, see Fig. 6. Thereafter the border 26 is stapled in each directionto the overlapped edges of the section I4, until the top and bottomedges of the basket have been reached. At this point, the floppy,open-ended cylinder is removed from the mandrel I8.

Applicant next removes the two end strips (sometimes only one) of heavypaper constituting the woof, leaving the heavy paper cords constitutingthe warp projecting in a circumferential ring. Into this ring ofprojecting'warp members, he inserts a stiff hoop 32 which is availableon the market and is called an embroidery hoop or a carnival hoop. Thishoop 32 rests roughly on the outer edge of the outermost strip of paperI3, see Fig. 5. As a practical matter this stripping of the end one ortwo members of the woof is not an exact operation because frequently themember I3 may be under the edge of the hoop at one part of the top andmay overlap a little bit as indicated by the numeral I5 in Fig. 5, whichalso indicates the uppermost member of the woof. The paper is thin andthe important thing from the standpoint of appearance is that whenviewed from the top, the only part of the wicker that appears to beengaging the outside of the hoop is the projecting warp members.Thereupon the hoop is rested on an anvil 34. The border 26 is turned atright angles and is stapled around the hoop by staples such as 36 untilthe end 38 reaches the point 40 where the end is tucked under the startof the circumferential border and stapled. The result is that the hoop32 and the beading or border 26 either rest on the uppermost member ofthe woof or squeezes the uppermost member of the woof between the hoopand the beading so that they cannot be pushed inwardly over the wicker.This is believed to be important in providing the strength whichultimately appears in applicants basket.

Applicant then inserts in one end a stiff hoop 32 which the manufacturersells as one of the components of an ordinary embroidery hoop, sometimescalled in the trade a carnival hoop. Thereupon the hoop is rested on ananvil 34. The border 26 is turned at right angles and is stapled aroundthe hoop by staples such as 36 until the end 38 reaches the point 40'where the end is tucked under the start of the circumferential borderand stapled.

This process is repeated for the other end of the basket, the hoop 42being inserted and the other end 44 of the border being stitched aroundit. A cardboard or thin wood board bottom 46 is next inserted by simplyspringing the hoop 42 out of shape. An alternative method of mountingthe bottom is to fasten the bottom by some suitable means such asstaples 47, see Fig. 5, to the hoop 42 before assembling into thebasket. The diameter of the bottom ma be slightly smaller than that ofthe hoop or of exactly the same size. Here, again, either the one or thebottom two members of the W001 may be stripped so that the beading willrest upon the bottommost member of the woof or will squeeze thebottommost member of. the woof against the hoop.

The hoops 32 and 42 give substantial rigidity at the ends but the paperwicker is so floppy that at this stage in the construction one can graspthe hoop 32 and turn it clockwise while turning hoop 42counterclockwise.

The next step is to dip the floppy container into a sizing andstiffening fluid, as illustrated in Fig. 3. Thereafter, as the sizingdries, the paper wicker at the end shrinks slightly on the hoops andwith the added structural strength provided by the sizing, there isproduced a basket of surprising rigidity. The basket has no verticalframe members. In order to prevent deterioration of the sizingstructure, due to moisture or any kind of wetting, the basket is thengiven a heavy coating of paint by any suitable process.

Referring to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the hoop 42 spaces the bottom46 from the lower edge 48 of the container. This is very desirable froman appearance standpoint. The container has a finished look and suggestssuperior workmanship over a container in which asolid bottom piece suchas 46 is substituted at the position of the hoop 42.

While applicants invention relates primarily to the use of hoops and themanner of applying the bead thereto, it will be appreciated that acircular cross section is not essential. .An oval cross section may beused or even a rectangular or square section where the corners arecurved on substantially long radii.

Having thus disclosed applicants invention, what he claims is:

1. The method of making a container which comprises the steps ofoverlapping the edges of a section of sheet material to form a sleevehaving a seam, of fastening the central portion of a reinforcing stripto the seam so that each end of the reinforcing strip extends beyond theseam, of fastening each end of the reinforcing strip around the entireadjacent end of the sleeve, and of closing one end of the container.

2. The method of making a container which comprises the steps ofoverlapping the edges of a section of sheet material to form a sleevehaving a seam, of fastening a reinforcing strip to the outside of theseam so that one end extends beyond the seam, of positioning a hoopinside that end of the cylinder adjacent the free end of the strip, andof fastening said end of the strip to the entire outer circumference ofthe sleeve end and to the hoop, and of closing the other end of thecontainer.

3. The method of making a paper wicker container which comprises thesteps of overlapping the opposite edges of a section of flexible paperwicker on a mandrel, of fastening said edges together to form a sleeve,of inserting in one end of the resulting paper wicker sleeve a hoop,

of fastening the adjacent circumferential edge of the wicker to thehoop, of inserting a bottom in the other end of the sleeve, and ofdipping the resulting container in a sizing fluid which upon dryingrenders the paper wicker stiff.

4. The methods of making a paper wicker container which comprises thesteps of overlapping the opposite edges of a section of flexible paperwicker on a mandrel to form a sleeve, of fastening a border strip andsaid overlapped edges to each otherso that the border strip extendsbeyond the top and bottom of the resulting paper wicker sleeve, ofinserting in one end of the sleeve a hoop, of fastening the border andthe circumferential edge of the paper wicker to the entire circumferenceof the hoop, of inserting a bottom in the other end of the sleeve, offastening the border strip around the bottom edge of the sleeve, and ofdipping the resulting container in a sizing fluid which upon dryingrenders the paper Wicker stiff.

5. The method of making a paper wicker container which comprises thesteps of overlapping the opposite edges of a rectangular section offlexible paper wicker on a mandrel to form a sleeve, of stapling saidedges together, of stripping one or more of the woof members at one endfrom the section so as to leave the warp members projecting unsupported,of inserting in said end of the resulting paper wicker sleeve a hoop, ofstapling a beading to the projecting ends of the warp and to the hooparound its entire circumference, of inserting a bottom in the other endof the sleeve, and of dipping the resultin container in a sizing fluidwhich upon drying renders the paper wicker stiff.

6. The method making of a paper wicker container which comprises thesteps of overlapping the opposite edges of a rectangular section offlexible paper wicker on a mandrel to form a sleeve, of stapling saidedges together, of inserting in one end of the resulting paper wickersleeve a hoop, of stapling the adjacent circumferential edge of thewicker to the hoop, of assembling a similar hoop in the other end of thesleeve, of springing one hoop sufficiently to receive a stiff bottom,and of dipping the resulting container in a sizing fluid which upondrying renders the paper stiff.

'7. The method of making a paper wicker container which comprises thesteps of overlapping the opposite edges of a rectangular section offlexible paper wicker on a mandrel to form a sleeve, of stapling aborder strip and said overlapped edges to each other so that the borderstrip extends beyond the top and bottom of the resulting paper wickersleeve, of inserting in one end of the sleeve a hoop, of stapling theborder and the circumferential edge of the paper wicker to the entirecircumference of the hoop, of assembling a similar hoop in the other endof the sleeve, of springing one hoop sufliciently to receive a stiffbottom, and of dipping the resulting container in a sizing fluid whichupon drying renders the paper wicker stiff.

8. The method of making a paper wicker container which comprises thesteps of overlapping the opposite edges of a section of flexible paperWicker to form a sleeve having a seam, of fastening a reinforcing stripto said seam so that each end extends beyond the seam, of removing atleast one strand of the woof from the end of the sleeve so as to leavethe warp projecting, of inserting in the projecting ends of the warp ahoop, of attaching the free end of the reinforc- 5 6 ing strip to thewarp of the sleeve and the hoop UNITED STATES PATENTS around its entirecircumference, and of closing Number Name Date the other end of thecontainer. 1,198,596 Strange Sept. 19, 1916 GUENTHER BRANDES- 2,249,888Dodge July 22, 1941 REFERENCES CITED FOREIGN PATENTS The followingreferences are of record in the Number Country Da file of this patent:233.587 Switzerland NOV. 1, 1944

